John Swinney has promised his government will work with Sir Keir Starmer and an incoming Labour administration.

The First Minister told The Herald on Sunday he would “positively welcome” a change of leadership after what he described as years of “disrespectful” treatment by the Conservatives.

“I will pledge my government to work with the [Labour] UK Government," he said. "There are shared priorities."

His comments come after Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said a Labour government would "want to work in partnership" with the SNP administration in Edinburgh.

Speaking to journalists in Edinburgh last Tuesday, she said it would be the only way to “realise the potential of the whole UK economy".

READ MORE: Labour government will 'work in partnership' with Scottish Government

Asked if he would commit to work with Sir Keir and Ms Reeves, Mr Swinney said he would.

“I'm a seasoned government minister. I've seen [the relationship between the two governments] over a number of different administrations,” he said.

“There were always ups and downs on different issues, there always will be.

“Generally, we were able to work collaboratively with the Brown government, the Cameron coalition government, the Cameron stand alone government.

“And, ironically, on many practical issues with the Theresa May government, though it began to get increasingly difficult because of Brexit.

“After 2019 It has been disrespectful.”

Mr Swinney said he had “never felt as disrespected" as he was by Boris Johnson and his ministers.

“The Truss government was just an aberration. And the Sunak government has been no better," he added.

“Integral to that has been the disruptive, damaging contribution of the Scotland Office.

“The Scotland Office has frankly been working against Scotland. I've never seen anything like it.”

He said the UK Government department had had “a dangerous and malign influence on intergovernmental relations.”

“I would positively welcome a new government willing to work with us,” he added.

“I will pledge my government to work with the UK Government. There are shared priorities.

“My objective is to eradicate child poverty. And we're having to do that just now whilst swimming against the tide of a UK Government policy direction.

“If I had a UK Government direction that was sympathetic to that policy direction that would make my life an awful lot more straightforward. So I signal that willingness to do that.”

READ MORE: Do Labour's plans for ‘securonomics’ stack up?

On Tuesday, Ms Reeves, a former Bank of England economist, was taking questions at the Natwest HQ alongside Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

He said there had been too many “manufactured fights” between the devolved administration and Whitehall in recent years.

He said: “We won’t try and pick fights. We will try and work in Scotland’s interest.”

(Image: NQ)

Ms Reeves said Labour wanted a “partnership approach” with the SNP.

“We're only going to realise the potential of the whole UK economy if people in all parts of the UK, every nation and region, are given the opportunity to participate and play their part.

“So you know we would work with the government here and I hope in the future that a Labour government in Westminster will be able to work with a Labour government here in Scotland because there's so many opportunities there but also know it people in Scotland want change, and they want Scotland to be part of that change.

“The more Scottish Labour MPs that we have working with a Labour government in Westminster, the more I think we can deliver for Scotland.

“We would want to work in partnership but also looking forward to the Scottish Parliament elections shortly afterwards, and hope to have a Labour government in both but we've got this election to focus on first."